Corn tortillas substitutes

The obvious swap and the right one for most quick weeknight cooking. They are softer, stretchier and more forgiving to fold, so a taco made with them will not crack, but you lose the toasted-corn flavour entirely and the whole thing tastes milder and breadier. They also contain wheat, so they are no help at all if the reason you wanted corn tortillas was gluten.

Best for

soft tacos, quesadillas, wraps and burritos, quick weeknight dinners

Not a good swap for enchiladas, where flour tortillas soak up the sauce and break down into a pudding-like layer instead of staying distinct. See the tips below if you have no choice.

The best answer available and much faster than people expect. Mix masa harina with warm water and salt to a dough like soft play dough, rest it 15 minutes, roll into golf balls, press flat between two sheets of plastic, and cook on a dry hot griddle for about 45 seconds a side until they puff. Fresh corn tortillas taste better than any packet, are properly pliable, and are unambiguously gluten-free.

Best for

tacos, enchiladas, anything where the tortilla is the point, gluten-free cooking

Masa harina is nixtamalised corn flour and is not interchangeable with cornmeal, polenta or corn flour, none of which will hold together as a tortilla. If the dough cracks at the edges when pressed, it needs more water.

These are corn tortillas that have already been fried or baked crisp, so the corn flavour is fully there and often deeper from the toasting. What you give up is the fold: a tostada is a flat crisp base you pile food onto and a hard shell cracks in half when you bite it. Fine for a taco night, hopeless for anything you need to roll or wrap.

Best for

tostadas, crunchy tacos, nachos and chilaquiles, salad bases

They go soggy within minutes of meeting a wet filling, so assemble at the table. If they have gone soft in the packet, five minutes in a hot oven brings the crisp straight back.

The best route if you need gluten-free and grain-free rather than specifically corn. Cassava tortillas are the closest in handling: pliable, mild, faintly sweet, and they fold without cracking. Almond flour versions are softer and nuttier and tear more easily. None of them tastes remotely of toasted corn, so the dish loses that background note and becomes about the filling.

Best for

grain-free and paleo cooking, soft tacos, wraps, corn-allergy cooking

Warm them briefly before filling, as with any tortilla. They are usually more fragile than corn once hot, so keep the filling moderate and eat them promptly.

Gluten-free, grain-free, and genuinely good with rich fillings like carnitas or fish, because the cold crunch cuts the fat in a way a tortilla does not. Be clear about what you lose: no toasted corn, no warmth, no starch, and no ability to hold a wet or saucy filling for more than a minute or two before it runs down your wrist. Butter lettuce and iceberg cups hold shape best.

Best for

low-carb tacos, rich fatty fillings, fish tacos, grain-free eating

For cabbage, dunk the leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds and pat dry, which makes them pliable enough to fold without splitting. Keep the filling well drained.

Made from precooked corn flour, so of everything on this list these give you the truest corn flavour, arguably even more of it because they are thick. The form is completely different: a split arepa is a pocket, not a wrap, and it eats like a corn bun. Excellent food, and a good answer if you have the corn flour and no tortilla press, but it changes the dish rather than substituting into it.

Best for

stuffed corn pockets, shredded meat and cheese fillings, breakfast dishes

Arepas need masarepa, a precooked corn flour, which is a different product from masa harina and not interchangeable with it in either direction.

The least-bad option when you need something gluten-free, have none of the above, and the filling is cold. Softened for a few seconds in warm water they turn pliable and translucent and roll tightly. The texture is chewy and slightly slippery rather than tender, they contribute no flavour whatsoever, and hot or greasy fillings will tear straight through them.

Best for

cold rolls, fresh vegetable and herb fillings, shrimp and salad fillings

Dip one wrapper at a time and work fast, because they keep softening after they leave the water and two of them will fuse together permanently if they touch.